Angled and corner cabinets are where a kitchen job either comes together or goes back on the trailer. The geometry is simple enough on paper and unforgiving on site: a corner that is two degrees out, a back panel that fouls the wall return, a door that will not clear the run beside it. This page has the nine calculators our customers asked for, and the method we use to build angled cabinets in Pro100 so the cut list, the shop drawing and the render all come off one model.
Straight to the numbers: all nine calculators · corner setback · angled face width · clipped corners · how to build one in Pro100 · common questions
Angled cabinet calculators
Nine calculators for the measurements that come up on an angled job: the setback on a corner that is not 90°, the width of the angled face, the mitre on a clipped corner, and the diagonals on a top with one or more corners cut off. Enter what you have measured and press Calculate. Everything runs in your browser — nothing is sent anywhere, and nothing is stored.
If you are not sure which one you need, the drawing on each card labels every side and angle with the same letter as its field. The two corner-cabinet calculators solve the same equation from opposite ends: use find the angled face when you know how far the cabinet runs along each wall, and find side A when the face width is fixed and you need to know how far it reaches.
Angled top
Cabinet side panel top view
Angled top with clipped back
Clipped corners
Angled corner cabinet — find side A
Angled corner — setback
45° corner — equal sides
Right triangle from one angle
Angled corner cabinet — find the angled face
Why angled cabinets go wrong in the shop
An angled cabinet is a box with one face rotated, and almost every problem traces back to something that rotation changed and nobody re-checked.
- The corner is not 45°. On a remodel it almost never is. Framing moves, plaster builds up, and a corner that measures 134° instead of 135° leaves a gap you will be scribing for an hour. Measure the room, not the plan.
- The back corner fouls something. Rotating the face pushes the back of the carcass deeper into the corner, straight into the wall return, the pipework or the electrical. A back support cut-out solves it, and you want to know that before the panel is cut.
- The door will not clear the run beside it. A door on an angled face swings through a wider arc than the same door on a flat run. Check it against the neighbouring cabinet and against the hinge you actually use.
- The countertop overhang stops being equal. The overhang on an angled face is measured perpendicular to that face, so a consistent reveal on the flat runs will not be consistent across the corner unless it is set that way.
- The parts list comes back as rectangles. If your software lists an angled part by its bounding box, somebody at the saw has to recover the mitre. That is where the expensive mistakes happen.
How to build an angled cabinet in Pro100
Start from the shape, not from a standard box
Open a new project and go to the Shape Editor. Rather than taking a stock cabinet and trying to cut it about, draw the plan of the carcass you actually want — the two runs along the walls and the angled face between them. Work counter-clockwise; the editor expects it, and the panels come out facing the right way when you do. The step-by-step is on using the Shape Editor, and working with angled cabinets covers the cabinet-specific cases.
Take the angle from the room
Measure the real corner before you draw anything. Put that angle and your depth into the setback calculator and you have the face width to draw to. If the corner is genuinely square and you are building a standard 45° clip, the 45° calculator gives you the two equal sides from the diagonal in one step.
Hang the doors square, then rotate back
When you add doors or a face frame, rotate the cabinet so the angled face runs left to right rather than on the diagonal. Attach the doors and the frame, then rotate it back. The cabinet is far easier to modify afterwards if it was built that way, and door styles from your catalog drop on without fighting the angle.
Let the output follow the model
Once the shape is right, everything downstream comes off it: the cut list with real angled dimensions, the panel optimizer nesting those parts, the dimensioned shop drawing for the bench, job costing for the quote, and the 3D render for the client. Change the angle and all of them change together. That is the whole point — one model, not five documents that have to be kept in step by hand. Shops running CNC get the same parts out with the mitres intact.
Watch it done
The video below builds a corner cabinet from scratch, including the back support cut-out that makes installation straightforward. More are on tutorial videos and the full video list.
Where angled cabinets earn their keep
The corner is the obvious one, but the same geometry shows up across the trade. Kitchen design uses it for corner bases and for softening the end of a run. Closet design uses it for corner returns, which is where closets most often go wrong. Garage cabinetry uses angled toe kicks and clipped corners to keep walkways clear. Refacers meet it whenever an existing corner turns out not to be square. Commercial shops meet it on reception desks and counters, which are angled far more often than kitchens are. The gallery has examples of each, all drawn in Pro100.
Dimensions worth fixing before you cut
| Measurement | What it affects |
|---|---|
| Corner angle | Everything downstream. Measure it; do not assume 90°. |
| Side panel depth | Sets the angled face width for a given run. The face calculator works it out. |
| Face width | Decides whether one door or two, and which hinge. |
| Back cut-out | Clearance for the wall return, pipework and services behind the corner. |
| Door swing | Must clear the adjacent run through its full arc, not just at 90°. |
| Countertop overhang | Measured perpendicular to the angled face, so it needs setting separately from the flat runs. |
| Toe kick return | Mitres at the corner; the 45° calculator gives the two equal legs. |
Common questions about angled cabinets
What angle should a corner cabinet be?
Most corner cabinets are built at 45°, which puts the face at 135° to each run and lets a standard door and hinge work without modification. The angle only has to change when the walls themselves are not square, and on a remodel they rarely are. Measure the actual corner, put that figure into the setback calculator above, and build to what the room gives you rather than to what the plan assumes.
How do I work out the angled face width on a corner cabinet?
Take the length of each side that runs along the wall, the depth of the side panel and the corner angle, and the angled face calculator returns the face width. It is the same equation the side A calculator solves backwards, so you can work from whichever two measurements you already have on the job.
Why does my angled cabinet not fit when the drawing says it should?
Nearly always one of three things: the corner is not the angle the plan assumed, the back corner of the carcass is fouling the wall return or the pipework behind it, or the door swing was never checked against the adjacent run. The first is a measuring problem, and the calculators on this page fix it. The second and third are modelling problems — build the cabinet in 3D with the Shape Editor and you see the clash before you cut.
Can Pro100 produce a cut list for an angled cabinet?
Yes. The cut list comes off the same model as the render, so an angled part is listed with its real dimensions and its mitre, not as a rectangle you have to work out afterwards. Change the angle and the list changes with it. The panel optimizer then nests those parts, angled ones included, and the shop drawing dimensions the same geometry for the bench.
Do I need to know trigonometry to build angled cabinets?
No. The calculators on this page do the trigonometry, and inside Pro100 you draw the shape and the software resolves the geometry. The reason to understand what is going on is to catch a bad input — if a result looks wrong for the room in front of you, it usually is, and it is almost always the angle that was mismeasured.
Does this work in millimetres as well as inches?
The calculators are unit-agnostic: put inches in and you get inches out, put millimetres in and you get millimetres out. Pro100 itself works in either, and you can switch without rebuilding the job.
What about angled walls rather than angled cabinets?
Same geometry, different host. A run against a wall that is not at 90° is covered on working with angled walls, and the angled walls feature page shows how the walls themselves are drawn. The calculators here apply to both — a 135° corner behaves the same whether it is a carcass or a room.
Where to go next
Beginner's guide if you are new to Pro100 · Working with angled walls for rooms that are not square · Crown molding for the mitres above the cabinet · Standard and custom cabinetry · Photorealistic presentation · Documentation · Frequently asked questions · System requirements
Draw an angled cabinet yourself
Build the corner, check the door swing, pull the cut list. The calculators above tell you the numbers; Pro100 tells you whether the cabinet actually fits.
Already decided? See pricing, or talk to us about your shop.